It's one of life's minor annoyances. You hear a song, love it and have no way of figuring out what it is.

Well, that used to be one of life's minor annoyances.

Now, of course, there's an app for that.

Shazam has been identifying earworms since its launch in 2002.

And now it's helping music execs snag the next big thing.

Steve Knopper is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine and author of, "Appetite for Self-Destruction: The spectacular crash of the record industry in the digital age."